Schefter: League considers more Sunday night playoff games

[Uncle Rico]

From the story:

If the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs in prime time draws monster ratings, the NFL is expected to consider shifting future Sunday playoff games into prime time, per industry sources.

...

Playing on Sunday night would cost the winning team valuable preparation time for the next Sunday's conference championship game -- but it's nothing teams don't deal with all season long.

Can't say I love this idea.

First, I just love day games better in general. Really wishing there was a game coming right up at 1.

Second, I disagree with the second part of the quote above, comparing playoffs to regular season. Especially in the Divisional Round: It's already an advantage playing Saturday night vs. Sunday (I'm talking for the winners, going to the championship games). Pushing that second Sunday game to Prime Time adds a lot to that advantage, which I don't think should be the case for a championship game.

 

[festy1986]

Any move that is motivated by financial logic is a big no from me.

F Roger and the billionaire owners squeezing an extra few mil

 

[Fixit]

This is my personal Hell.

 

[RobertWeathers]

What pisses me off the most is the league thinks the fans are a bunch of morons. Its insulting.

I bet the network wanted a rebate from the NFL on ad revenue due to the ratings shortfall and the league and owners are scrambling as they dont want to pay.

The ice storm in KC was a perfect deviation from the real reason why the league wanted to move the Pitt/KC game to Sunday night.

The league wants to use this as a test.

I cannot stand how sneaky they are.

I have no idea why the league was shy about just coming out and saying, "We are moving the Pitt/KC game from 1 to 8 because it will have better ratings. "

Maybe path of least resistance?

 

[crash75]

January Sunday daytime games are a great way to keep occupied, especially when the weather tends to be lousy during this time of the year. Sunday nights could keep some younger viewers and early risers from being able to watch, particularly on the East Coast.

 

[meatface]

why on earth would they think this is a good idea?

 

[Uncle Rico]

why on earth would they think this is a good idea?

$

Switching a Sunday playoff game from the afternoon to night could bring an extra 10-plus million viewers, according to an industry source.

 

[irishfanatic]

Certainley would be really bad news for fans on this side of the Atlantic.

 

[blackglass3]

To be fair, here in StL (which is a dump, for anyone that has never been) the ice was pretty bad Friday and was supposed to continue across the Midwest all weekend. The moving of the game to when the ice would be over, or manageable, for safety was a good idea.

Now this news coming out...Horrible idea. Why fiddle with something that is so ingrained? And where does it end? Do they do the AFCCG Saturday primetime and NFCCG Sunday primetime next year? The competitive advantages this provides is unreal.

 

[Deus Irae]

It actually makes sense, on the Sunday before MLK day.

 

[ALP]

this is stupid, the Sat 4PM 8PM Sun 1PM 4PM schedule is one of the few smart things the NFL is doing, and now they want to chagne it?

 

[crash75]

The situation with tonight's game is an exception. Icy conditions are nothing to mess around with. Keeping the fans in KC safe was a wise decision and, in this case, not a decision made with the focus being on profit made from doing so.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

I think this really ties towards what Roger Goodell said last year was "inevitably" moving to a 14-team playoff structure (adding a 3rd wild card).

In that scenario, 7 teams from each conference make it in, so only the top seed gets the bye. That means 6 games on wild card weekend. Only way to do that without overlapping games or a Monday game is having 1, 4:30 and 8:15 games both Saturday and Sunday.

 

[SuperStang83]

This could backfire on them. Ratings may be higher than normal because people have off for MLK Day, but on a Sunday night without a holiday the next day fans will be more apt to tune out.

 

[thecore762]

Once again greedy Roger... I also prefer daytime games, I particularly enjoy the 4pm games.

 

[RIpats88]

Buuut...i thought this was because of the ice storm and not ratings?

Whatever. Goodell might not realize it but this helps the Patriots. Less time for recovery/preparation for whicher team wins and has to travel to NE

 

[SVN]

From the story:



Can't say I love this idea.

First, I just love day games better in general. Really wishing there was a game coming right up at 1.

Second, I disagree with the second part of the quote above, comparing playoffs to regular season. Especially in the Divisional Round: It's already an advantage playing Saturday night vs. Sunday (I'm talking for the winners, going to the championship games). Pushing that second Sunday game to Prime Time adds a lot to that advantage, which I don't think should be the case for a championship game.

And if you see the weather now KC its not really as bad as anticipated. They couldve played during the day.

 

[XLIX]

Normally the Patriots are involved so I just want to go-go-go and get the game started..... but if I were an impartial fan just looking to enjoy a couple games, I think what they do on Conference Championship weekend is the best scheduling.... Start at 3 and 6:30.

 

[italian pat patriot]

for us in Europe it is simply a disaster...

i love 1 pm games...

 

[deroc5050]

The situation with tonight's game is an exception. Icy conditions are nothing to mess around with. Keeping the fans in KC safe was a wise decision and, in this case, not a decision made with the focus being on profit made from doing so.

I don't think people understand how dangerous ice is.. we are not talking about 4-6 inches of snow. ICE. With that said if this draws huge ratings why wouldn't the NFL move the time slot. Its really not much of an issue. They lose 6-8 hours of healing time. They don't implement the game plan until Wednesday, I don't think its a big issue. Especially considering and suprisingly the AFC C is the night game on Sunday.